In our school we will aim to:

Create a happy, secure, interactive and stimulating learning environment in which all members of the school community can grow in confidence and develop their full potential.

We will:

• Provide the best possible opportunities and care to enable achievement, developing a positive culture of high expectations in which all members of the school community, including all of our pupils and our staff, and all those who support our work, can flourish and achieve their potential.
• Promote achievement for all and enjoyment in learning for life
• Help each pupil to succeed through a broad, creative, therapeutic and challenging curriculum, innovative teaching and highly trained, experienced staff
• Create an ethos where pupils feel secure, are encouraged to talk, and are listened to.
• Value everyone in our school equally, whatever their roles, abilities, beliefs, sexual preferences and/or needs are.
• Have high expectations of children’s attainment, behaviour and attitudes.
• Offer a wraparound service so that we can met our pupils’ needs in a holistic way

Recognise that each individual is special and recognise their unique qualities.

We will:

• Provide an enriching school experience by offering every pupil a wealth of opportunities through curriculum and enrichment activities.
• Create individualised learning plans for all pupils
• Ensure that we meet the physical, emotional, academic and mental health needs of all members of our school community and beyond

Ensure high levels of progress and achievement

We will:

• Ensure that all teaching is of high quality by; sharing best practice; supporting and developing staff and carefully monitoring teaching to ensure its quality.
• Ensure that all of our pupils, and especially our younger learners, gain core skills in core and other subjects, to underpin their on-going progress.
• Plan meticulously at all levels to ensure that our curriculum is comprehensive, balanced and broad, and that it engages our pupils, motivating them to learn.
• Monitor progress and attainment meticulously to ensure that the needs of all pupils and cohorts, classes and year groups, are being met, and that attainment is consistently high.
• Ensure that all of our pupils make at least good, and in many cases better, progress against their starting points
• Close gaps in attainment for our pupils, so that they attain the highest academic standards they are capable of.
• Nurture talent in all areas of school life, but be equally proud of achievement gained through perseverance, positive choices, and effort.
• Ensure that those pupils who are with us for short term placements are prepared, both academically and personally, for reintegration into their base settings.
• Celebrate the achievement of all pupils
• Recognise and reward endeavour and determination to ensure that children, no matter what their background or ability, can achieve their best.
• Help our pupils to acquire the knowledge, skills and independence needed to equip them for successful school careers and for life outside, and after, the school, and which helps them to adapt to the different challenges they will face during their adult lives
• Ensure that none of our pupils leave our school after KS4 without gaining a place in education, employment or training
• Work collaboratively with the Preparation for Adulthood Team
• Endeavour to work consistently towards the targets that the percentage of our pupils sustained in EET is at least in line with the national average
• Improve attendance, so that our persistent absence figure is lower than the national average for similar schools.
• Develop alternatives to fixed term exclusions, so that exclusion rates are lower than the national average for similar school.
• Reduce ‘behaviour’ incidents for individuals.
• Teach children how to be safe and live healthy lives.

Work with others

We will:

• Build effective and engaging learning partnerships between school and home, offering parents a welcoming and supportive environment
• Work closely with a wide range of support services, including Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Educational Psychology, school nurses, CAMHS etc.
• Work closely with local FE colleges
• Work with schools and settings previously attended by our pupils, so that there is a continuity of provision which enables their needs to be best met.
• Work closely with local mainstream schools
• Become a positive member of the group of special schools in the area
• Develop positive relationships with the local community
• Help our pupils to learn to be respectful, well-mannered and tolerant citizens of the local and wider community
• Actively contribute to the local community of schools by contributing through our outreach programme.
• Offer short-term placements for children to provide intensive specialist input in relation to a child’s social, communication and interaction difficulties with a supported transition back into mainstream.

Transitions and reintegration

We will:

• Offer an active reintegration programme to support pupils returning to mainstream provision
• Ensure that transitions for our pupils, either into our school from other local settings, from education at home, or from out of borough, or as they are reintegrated into mainstream settings, or at the end of KS4, are smooth and that, where appropriate, support for pupils is on-going.
• Work collaboratively with the ASD group works to support transitions; Support transitions by taster days, visits, meetings and information sharing.

Outreach support

We will offer the following outreach support in co-operation with the Specialist teacher service:

• Observation and advice on meeting the needs of a targeted pupil, including strategies, differentiating the curriculum, and developing Individual Education Plans supporting early intervention to avoid placement breakdown
• Training packages to support a school in meeting the needs of a targeted pupil
• Training courses for staff working in mainstream settings, introducing and/or embedding good practice that is of benefit to all students, including attendance at the SENCO Network meetings
• Work with the EP service and allied schools on their programme of work to support all schools to become ASD friendly
• Work with local Teaching schools to help the development of good practice
• Workshops for staff training and development
• Workshops for parents including appropriate awareness raising and training

The Sovereign Trust

It is our vision to:

• Create a dynamic and inclusive partnership to meet the diverse needs of the children who attend our schools through excellent service, teaching expertise, value for money and emotionally intelligent leadership.
• Be a centre of excellence for learning, development and support for pupils, parents and staff.

We firmly believe that working collaboratively together and supporting each other within our group of schools with SEND expertise allows us to achieve the most successful outcomes for our children. It enables us to share skills, experience and expertise, and pool our resources to provide a greater range of opportunities, as well as extending social networks for our children.

The Trust and its schools all share the same values:

• Inspire - Enable all pupils to achieve and develop to their highest potential through inspirational teaching.
• Nurture - Create an environment that nurtures, encourages exploration, celebrates creativity and forges a love of learning.
• Support - Support both pupils and families alike in creating the ethos that our partnership of schools shares.
• Passion - Encourage strong and passionate leadership which is central in helping every pupil flourish.
• Include - Provide a fully inclusive environment to ensure different needs, cultures and abilities are respected and valued.
• Respect - Remain vigilant in how we treat each other, ensuring the respect of each other and of the views of others.
• Enjoy - Include fun and enjoyment in our curriculum which we believe supports a positive learning environment.